Scribes ask Rajnath to take action against attackers

Women journalists in Delhi on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and asked him to take action against lawyers and others who attacked mediapersons in court.

They also demanded action against Delhi Police personnel “who watched silently” the violence unleashed by a group of lawyers.

A delegation of journalists under the aegis of India Women’s Press Corp (IWPC) met Rajnath and apprised him of the incident at the Patiala House court on Monday when lawyers attacked journalists and students and faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University who had gone there to witness the court proceedings against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.

They raised the issue of Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi dismissing the incident as “a scuffle” and demanded that accountability be fixed.

“It is a matter of concern that the Delhi Police Commissioner has dismissed the incident describing it as a scuffle. Such observations will encourage those elements who already believe that they are above the law of the land,” the journalists said in a memorandum.

“More than a dozen journalists were set upon by lawyers who prevented them in the discharge of their duties... These were the regular beat journalists who were on assignment. Even women journalists were not spared. It is unfortunate that security personnel of the Delhi Police did nothing even as the assault continued,” it said.

The journalists also demanded his intervention to sort out the issue. “We urge your intervention in the matter on two counts. There should be some accountability of the Delhi Police who watched silently as the assault happened. And secondly, as there were CCTV cameras the incident of assault must have been recorded. We demand that the perpetrators of the assault be brought to book at the earliest,” they said.

Earlier, over 200 journalists took out a protest march demanding strong action over Monday’s violence at the Patiala House Courts Complex.

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